Wizz Air

VIDEO: Madman shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’ on Wizz Air flight, heroic passenger averts disaster

Hungarian brands Wizz Air

A madman went on a rampage on a Wizz Air flight from Israel to London. A heroic passenger averted the disaster and saved the lives of everyone on board.

A crazed man was pinned down by passengers after he tried to open the emergency exit on board a flight from Israel to London on Monday, 11 September, neokohn.hu reports.

The unnamed terrorist suspect was flying on Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air’s flight W9 4452. The man shouted “Allahu Akbar” until one of the passengers, 45-year-old Albanian Victor Troboloni, managed to restrain him.

“It was a very scary situation. I was thinking I might never see my mother again,” Jewish News quoted Troboloni as saying after the incident.

The heroic passenger said that the man had been acting strangely on the flight before, pacing back and forth from the entrance near the cockpit to the emergency exit at the other end.

“I saw him going up and down, maybe looking for weak points on the aircraft… checking seat numbers. I’m a plane engineer myself, I used to work in maintenance. So I know what’s going on mid-air, in flight at 30,000ft, 11km above sea level, you’ve got no escape,” Troboloni said.

“He tried to open the fire exit, he was sitting at the back and it’s easy to open a fire exit, just pull the handle and that’s it,”

he explained.

“I got the guy down. He was very heavyweight … I headlocked him and the stewardesses tied his hands with plastic cable ties … I had to do it. I held him for 10 minutes, he got out of breath, he got tired, he was tied up for 45 minutes to 1 hour before we landed in Belgrade.”

According to Jewish News, a Wizz Air spokesperson said: “The company is dealing with the onward flight of all customers to London. The safety and security of passengers and crew are the company’s top priority. The company regrets the inconvenience caused by this unexpected incident.”

The flight was eventually forced to make an emergency landing in Belgrade, Serbia.

You can watch the video of the incident below:

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Engine problems: major capacity reduction at Wizz Air, Budapest flights rescheduled

wizz air

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air may be forced to cut capacity by up to 10% over the next two quarters due to a new problem with the engines on its A320neo family aircraft.

Engine problems at Wizz Air

According to AIRportal.hu, Pratt & Whitney’s parent company has issued new information on the problems caused by the use of substandard raw materials in the production of a GTF engine component.

Wizz Air estimates that this could result in a 10% capacity reduction for the airline over the next two quarters, between 1 October and 31 March. The affected engines will have to be removed from the aircraft and sent to the manufacturer’s designated service centre for a long time period.

The airline adds that it is continuing to analyse the impact of the problem on operations. Wizz is working with the engine manufacturer to ensure that as few aircraft as possible have to be grounded for as short a period as possible. In addition, Wizz Air is developing proactive measures to mitigate the impact on its finances and flight operations. The low-cost airline will seek compensation from Pratt & Whitney.

Problem is much bigger than previously thought

As Daily News Hungary reported before, microscopic contaminants have been found in the metal powder used in the turbine blades of the high-pressure stages of engines produced by Pratt & Whitney between 2015 and 2021.

The engines must be dismantled and returned to the manufacturer’s designated service centre for complete dismantling. This was previously estimated by the manufacturer to take 60 days per engine; however, the latest information is that it will take 300 days.

The manufacturer predicts that the overhauls will last until 2026 and will affect between six and seven hundred engines.

Several Budapest routes rescheduled

It is not known if it is related to this case, but Wizz Air has recently changed the schedule and the number of flights on several routes, including Budapest, according to a post on the schedule analysis site Aeroroutes.

As for the Budapest routes: from the end of October, 11 flights per week will be operated to Eindhoven instead of 14, 2 instead of 3 to Jeddah, 19 instead of 21 to London Luton and 4 instead of 5 to Warsaw. However, capacity on the Luton and Eindhoven routes will remain as previously advertised around the end of year holidays (5 December – 8 January).

However, from Budapest to Reykjavik, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, the airline will increase the number of flights from 2 to 3 per week, while to Giza-Sphix airport near Cairo, the A320s will be replaced by larger A321s on the advertised 3 times a week.

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Wizz Air’s new timetable is here with many cheap flights

Wizz Air Romania EU

The Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air’s, new 2024 summer timetable arrived with multiple cheap flights. Furthermore, there are directions worth booking already. We summed up everything you should know about it below.

According to okosutas.hu, Wizz Air’s new timetable is surprising since they regularly upload new flights for very high prices. Therefore, no one can find flights worth booking at the beginning. It is not an exaggeration that more than 99% of the new timetable is worth booking only after a while. But things have seemingly changed for the better.

In the case of the Greek islands, there are some very cheap offers for next summer. That means the ticket costs are below EUR 50-60.

For example, you can buy a ticket to Rhodes for only EUR 45  with a 29 June departure. Furthermore, you can travel to Heraklion for only EUR 35 on 20 June or on 27 June. You may reach Corfu with Wizz Air for EUR 45 on 19 June. Moreover, the return flights are also in the EUR 35 category from most places.

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Wizz Air’s 2024 summer timetable has some eye-catching offers even to Türkiye. For instance, you may book your ticket to Antalya for just EUR 30. You should consider that the prices were much higher this summer. Furthermore, Wizz Air flies to the Turkish Riviera from next spring, and prices are competitive until end-May.

Interestingly, they seemingly copied 2023 summer’s timetable concerning multiple routes. For example, to Heraklion, two flights will go next summer. There is a Thursday evening and a Friday morning flight, but no connection during the weekend. Okosutas believes the airline will modify that soon.

The news outlet did not find any new routes next summer. Needless to say, Wizz Air may open and close flights until then since that is how the company works.

Attention: 10,000 people paralyse Budapest this weekend

traffic Budapest Hungary transport

The 38th Wizz Air half-marathon will be held in Budapest on September 10. Closures and traffic restrictions are to be expected in the capital.

The 38th Wizz Air half-marathon

If you are not running the Wizz Air Budapest half-marathon on Sunday, September 10, you should avoid the capital, napi.hu advises. The start and finish area will be at the Pázmány Péter promenade. More than 10,000 people entered the 38th event, said Árpád Kocsis, competition director.

6,300 runners applied for the 21.1-kilometer individual half-marathon, of which 1,170 are preparing for their first half-marathon. In this race, every fourth competitor will be a foreigner. The 2,100 foreign competitors are arriving fo Budapest from 94 countries.

Most of them come from Slovakia, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel. 60 percent of the domestic competitors start from 750 Hungarian settlements, said the race director.

Traffic changes in Budapest on the weekend

The Pázmány Péter promenade will be closed from 8 AM on Saturday to 9 PM on Sunday.

The following areas of Budapest will be closed on Sunday:

  • The entire length of the lower quay in Buda between 6 AM and 1 PM, and the lower quay in Pest between 7 AM and 2.30 PM (also closed to pedestrians).
  • Árpád fejedelem Road between 8 AM and 9.40 AM.
  • Műegyetem Quay between 8.20 AM and 2 PM.
  • Újpest Quay between 8.30 AM and 10.30 AM.
  • Szabadság (Liberty) Bridge and Szent Gellért Square between 9 AM and 2 PM.

Also, expect lane closures on the Buda side of the Árpád Bridge from 8.30 AM to 10 AM, and on the Buda side of the Margit Bridge from 8.30 AM to 10.15 AM. Prepare for closure between 12 and 1 PM in Fő Street at Clark Ádám Square, Jégverem Street, Bem Quay at Halász Street, Clark Ádám Square, Chain Bridge and Eötvös Square.

Tavasz Street will be closed between 8.20 AM and 9.45 AM, and Margaret Island central road from 8.30 AM to 10.10 AM.

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Low-cost revolution? Passenger traffic of Wizz Air and Ryanair grows unstoppably

ryanair wizz air

The passenger traffic of both of the most popular low-cost carriers, Irish Ryanair and Hungarian Wizz Air, is growing unstoppably.

Millions of passengers chosing low-cost airlines

Ryanair ended its strongest month of all time in August, transporting 18.9 million passengers, 11% more than last year in the same month, Világgazdaság reports.

The utilisation of the Irish low-cost airline’s flights remained unchanged at 96%. Ryanair operated more than 103,000 flights, of which a total of 350 flights were canceled at the end of the month due to a failure of the British NATS air traffic control system. This means a completion rate of 99.997%.

Wizz Air grows unstoppably

At Wizz Air, the number of passengers increased even more sharply: 24% more people, 6,143,859, boarded the flights of the domestic discount service provider in August, and the utilisation rate improved from 90.5% to 94.1%. The completion rate of the Hungarian airline was 99.6%.

Last month, Wizz launched its new flight from London’s Luton Airport to Cairo’s Sphinx Airport, Világgazdaság adds. Since the company moved in, the number of passengers departing from Luton – where Wizz Air is the largest airline – exceeded 65 million in the month in question.

Cabin crew certificates, carbon dioxide emissions

The company recently received permission from the Ministry of Construction and Transport to issue cabin crew certificates valid in all EU countries to the flight attendants it trains.

Wizz Air also announced that its carbon dioxide emissions were 51.9 grams per passenger kilometer in the last 12 months, compared to only 50.5 grams in August. According to the management, this is currently the lowest value on the market.

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Wizz Air to launch its holiday flights from Debrecen again next year!

International Airport runways North Africa flight

You can already plan your next summer holiday from or to Debrecen. Wizz Air has added holiday flights to its schedule for next year. There is also a chance that the soon-to-be-launched Egyptian service will operate next summer.

Three seasonal summer flights from Debrecen

Wizz Air currently operates three seasonal summer flights from Debrecen: Antalya in Turkey, Corfu in Greece and Burgas in Bulgaria, until October. All three flights will be available in next year’s timetable, as Dehir.hu noticed. The Burgas service will run from May to 5 October, the Corfu service from mid-June to early October and the Turkish service from early April to late October.

New Egypt flight by Wizz Air in October

Next month, Wizz Air will also launch a new flight to Egypt from Debrecen. The first flight to Hurghada will take off on 29 October. According to the current schedule, the flights will operate until 27 March.

Zsuzsa Trubek, Wizz Air’s communications manager, told Dehir that the Egyptian flight is planned to be a winter-spring seasonal flight. However, if they see that there is a high demand, this may change and they may even operate a summer flight between Hurghada and Debrecen. As she said, the number of bookings is encouraging, so they are looking forward to the flight.

You can also fly with Wizz Air to Tel Aviv, Larnaca in Cyprus (this route operates all year round), London and Eindhoven from Debrecen, and with Lufthansa to Munich, Dehir.hu adds.

Great summer for Debrecen Airport

Debrecen Airport did well this summer. In the first month of the season, passenger traffic was almost 12% higher, in July 6.7% higher and in August 4.5% higher than in the same months last year. In the three months of the summer, passenger numbers exceeded 120,000. Looking at the whole of this year, the increase is 13%, with 200,000 passengers choosing Debrecen Airport between January and the end of August.

The airport expects to welcome and serve 300,000 passengers this year.

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Want to visit family abroad for Christmas? Check out these great offers by Ryanair!

Ryanair flight Budapest

Ryanair offers over 1.6 million extra seats before the holidays. Thus, people will be able to visit family and friends abroad to enjoy the holidays together. The extra seats and the sales will favour those who desire to travel between the 15th of December and the 8th of January.

Ryanair unites families

Világgazdaság writes that in a statement, Ryanair highlighted that this is the 38th Christmas that the airline has helped families and friends reunite easily and for a low price. According to Ryanair, there is no better choice to ensure this, as low fares and reliability make them the number one airline in Europe. Between the 15th of December and the 8th of January, there will be 1.6 million extra seats due to the airline’s initiative. In addition, there will be a sale as well, tickets will be available for EUR 29.99. Luckily, people are starting to travel more as the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has been normalising. For example, Liszt Ferenc International Airport has an annual passenger traffic of over 14.3 million. If this increasing trend carries on, passenger numbers could return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

Budget airlines on the rise

As Világgazdaság reported, August was the strongest month ever for Ryanair. The budget airline carried 18.9 million passengers in the last month of summer, which is 11% more compared to the yearly basis. The Irish low-cost airline’s load factor remained unchanged at 96%, with more than 103,000 flights, of which a total of 350 were cancelled at the end of the month due to a failure of the UK’s NATS air traffic control system. This represents a completion rate of 99.997 percent, given the 350 cancelled flights. You can read more about the collapse of the British air traffic system HERE.

Wizz Air saw an even steeper rise in passenger numbers, with 24% more passengers. 6,143,859 people boarded the domestic low-cost carrier’s flights in August. In addition, the load factor improved from 90.5 percent to 94.1 percent. Wizz Air also launched a new service from London Luton Airport to Cairo Sphinx Airport last month. Moreover, Wizz Air announced that its carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometre were only 51.9 grams in the last 12 months. This number got even lower in August, at 50.5 grams. Management claims that this is currently the lowest emission on the market.

If you are looking for a holiday at the moment, you might want to choose Wizz Air. It celebrates 20 years with a 20% discount, as we have reported HERE.

Wizz Air celebrates 20 years with 20% discount: here are some offers from Budapest

Hungarian brands Wizz Air

4 September is the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air’s birthday. The carrier has the good habit of celebrating these anniversaries with a 20% discount on certain flights every year. Here are some of the best offers from the Hungarian capital this year. Hurry up, the promotion won’t last long!

The travel deals and flight news provider Utazómajom has collected 18 great offers this year. There are two prices in the list: the cheap one is always the Wizz Air Discount Club price, the more expensive one is available to anyone. The price includes all taxes and charges, plus a small piece of carry-on baggage.

As Wizz Air notes, this promotion applies from 4 September 00:00 till 5 September 2023 23.59 CEST (“Promotional period”). The 20% discount applies to the fare, excluding the administration fee.

The list (prices include taxes and charges):

Cyprus (Larnaca)
22-27 November: HUF 12,108 (EUR 31.64), HUF 18,300 (EUR 47.82)

Zakynthos
5-12 October: HUF 18,268 (EUR 47.44), HUF 24,460 (EUR 63.92)

Naples
8-15 November: HUF 7,500 (EUR 19.60), HUF 13,580 (EUR 35.49)

Malta
9-14 December: HUF 12,108 (EUR 31.64), HUF 18,300 (EUR 47.82)

Tel-Aviv
7-15 November: HUF 19,820 (EUR 51.79), HUF 13,628 (EUR 35.61)

Tenerife
15-22 November: HUF 43,068 (EUR 112.54), HUF 49,260 (EUR 128.72)

Sharm el-Sheikh
4-11 December: HUF 47,660 (EUR 124.54), HUF 41,468 (EUR 108.36)

Thessaloniki
14-17 October: HUF 15,500 (EUR 40.50), HUF 9,924 (EUR 25.93)

Rhodes
17-21 October: HUF 25,340 (EUR 66.22), HUF 19,148 (EUR 50.04)

Paris
7-13 December: HUF 12,988 (EUR 33.94), HUF 19,180 (EUR 50.12)

Madrid
22-28 November: HUF 13,628 (EUR 35.61), HUF 19,820 (EUR 51.79)

Santorini
5-12 October: HUF 19,148 (EUR 50.04), HUF 24,460 (EUR 63.92)

Rome
6-9 November: HUF 15,180 (EUR 39.67), HUF 10,564 (EUR 27.60)

Catania, Sicily
7-9 November: HUF 9,924 (EUR 25.93), HUF 16,060 (EUR 41.97)

Bari
16-19 November: HUF 16,780 (EUR 43.85), HUF 10,588 (EUR 27.67)

Barcelona
8-15 November: HUF 13,628 (EUR 35.61), HUF 19,820 (EUR 51.79)

Alicante
7-14 December: HUF 21,340 (EUR 55.76), HUF 15,148 (EUR 39.58)

Alghero (Sardinia)
16-20 October: HUF 15,228 (EUR 39.79), HUF 21,420 (EUR 55.97)

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Attention: Wizz Air temporarily changes German destination

wizz air a321 aircraft

From 1 October to 17 December, the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will operate flights from Budapest to Cologne-Bonn Airport instead of Dortmund.

From 1 October to 17 December, Wizz Air’s booking system will include a flight between Budapest and Cologne-Bonn (CGN), which will operate four times a week, AIRportal.hu reports.

Until the winter timetable changes at the end of October, flights between the Hungarian and the former West German capital will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and thereafter on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The route number (W6 2291/2) is the same as the Dortmund route, which will be suspended from the beginning of October.

Four weekly flights between Budapest and Dortmund will return from 19 December, operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

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Wizz flight cancelled but CEO may get GBP 100 mn bonus after making investors EUR billionaires

József Váradi Wizz Air CEO Hungary All You Can Fly

According to the agreement between the CEO and Wizz Air investors, provided share prices grow fivefold until 2028, the Wizz CEO will receive GBP 100 million. And that would be even higher than Michael O’Leary’s bonus, who is the CEO of the main competitor Irish Ryanair.

According to Világgazdaság, Wizz Air’s investors gave the green light to extend the original 2026 deadline until mid-2028. That would mean one share exceeds GBP 120 by 2028. To reach that goal, Wizz Air has to fulfill its expansion plan and grow its fleet from 150 (2019) to 500 aircraft. The bonus sum is massive. Michael O’Leary, the rival Ryanair’s CEO, can get his hands on a net GBP 86 million if their shares reach EUR 21 and their revenue exceeds EUR 2.2 billion, index.hu wrote.

Váradi’s base income is around GBP 570 thousand per year. He said the bonus was only 1% of the investors’ GBP 10 billion, provided he carried out the expansion plan. Exceptional premium for an exceptional performance, the Wizz leader summed up.

However, they are far from the target of GBP 120/share. The shares lost 8.27% in the last 30 days. The six months average is 15% in minus. Analysts agree that Wizz shares are significantly underpriced. Most analysts expect GBP 34.87 by next August, while the minority of the experts project GBP 55, Világgazdaság highlighted.

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Another cancelled Wizz Air flight

Wizz Air had good numbers in Q2 and presented a 95% flight utilisation. However, the problems with the Pratt & Whitney engines might affect the expansion numbers in the Middle East. Nevertheless, Gábor Bukta, an analyst of Concorde, said Wizz might close the 2023 financial year with a EUR 443 million profit. He added that Váradi’s bonus is feasible provided favourable macroeconomic circumstances.

A Rome-Budapest Wizz Air flight was cancelled yesterday before the take-off. A passenger told hvg.hu that the situation was chaotic. The Hungarian low-cost airline said the cause of the cancellation was the technical error of the Italian flight control system, resulting in a capacity plummet. The plane will fly from Rome to Budapest on 29 August. Wizz Air offered hotel accommodation for their passengers.

Wizz Air cuts flights from a Balkan country, closes its base

Wizz Air Romania EU

Wizz Air will further reduce the number of flights from Bosnia and Herzegovina for the winter season starting on 29 October. The Hungarian-based low-cost airline will operate only 17 flights a week from the Balkan country in the winter season, compared to 54 flights a week in the same period last year. Wizz is also closing its base in Tuzla.

The Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air operates scheduled flights mainly within Europe. It also operates some intercontinental routes to the Middle East and Africa. However, these routes have one end point in Europe, balk.hu writes.

Wizz Air to restructure Bosnia

Wizz Air will close its base in Tuzla from mid-September, resulting in the closure of twelve routes, according to ExYuAviation, a portal dedicated to air traffic in the former Yugoslav region. Wizz Air will discontinue flights between Frankfurt-Hahn and Tuzla as of 30 October, bringing to twelve the number of flights to Tuzla that will be discontinued.

According to reader comments, the current five flights a week to Frankfurt-Hahn will be reduced to two next month and cancelled altogether from October, possibly because the service is heavily based on seasonal diaspora traffic, balk.hu writes. From its former base in Tuzla, the low-cost airline will now only fly to Basel, Dortmund and Memmingen.

Abu Dhabi-Sarajevo flight to discontinue in October

Wizz Air is also discontinuing its Abu Dhabi-Sarajevo flight, which was launched in 2021. The last flight between the two cities is scheduled for 28 October, but it is possible that the service will be reinstated on 31 March 2024. According to comments, passenger traffic will be shifted to the Belgrade-Abu Dhabi flight, which is already full of Croatian passengers, who will be joined by Bosniaks.

On the positive side, the low-cost airline will re-launch its twice-weekly service between London Luton and Sarajevo from 25 September.

Republika Srpska is also concerned

Wizz Air will also cancel flights between Banja Luka and Stockholm Skavsta, with the last flight scheduled for 28 August. Also on 28 October, the flight between Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s second largest city, and Hamburg will be discontinued, but Basel and Dortmund will remain as destinations.

For Republika Srpska, the fact that Wizz Air has a contract with Banja Luka airport until the 2024 summer season, i.e. until next March, may pose some difficulties. This means that the two parties will have to negotiate an extension of the contract.

Wizz Air, which has been the largest airline in Bosnia and Herzegovina for many years, will this winter be in a dead heat with Turkish Airlines in terms of weekly flights, with only three more flights per week than its low-cost rival Ryanair.

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Wizz Air prepares spectacular air show for 20 August celebrations

WIZZ_first_chinese_Airbus_A321neo_aircraft

Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing and most sustainable airline, is preparing a special and spectacular air show to celebrate St Stephen’s Day on 20 August. As every year, the three-day event surrounding Hungary’s birthday will bring hundreds of activities to the capital, and Wizz Air will contribute with a breathtaking performance.

Wizz Air on 20 August

Once again, the airline’s most experienced pilots will be on hand to wow the crowds celebrating in the capital. Wizz Air’s aim is to pay tribute to the celebration of the founding of the state, as well as to entertain the public with an unforgettable attraction in the centre of Budapest. Wizz Air’s aircraft will fly from the Chain Bridge to Margaret Island at a low altitude rarely seen by a large audience.

Most experienced pilots

Wizz Air’s A321neo aircraft will be flown by Gergely Oláh, József Budai and Ákos Pethes over the scenic view of Budapest. Oláh has been flying with WIZZ for 16 years, is an instructor and examiner captain and currently a training manager with more than 10,000 hours of flying experience on various types of Airbus 320 aircraft. József Budai, Instructor and Examiner Captain, has been with Wizz Air for 13 years, has flown more than 8,000 hours with the aircraft family in his career and is currently Deputy Chief Training Officer. Ákos Pethes, Instructor Captain, has been flying with the airline since 2011 and has 7,500 flying hours in the air so far.

Airbus A321neo

The Airbus A321neo aircraft on display is the most efficient single-aisle aircraft in its class, with the lowest fuel consumption per passenger-kilometre. Wizz Air’s next-generation Airbus A321neo is powered by two Pratt and Whitney turbofan engines. With 239 seats in a single-class configuration, it offers maximum flexibility and low operating costs for the airline, while also delivering exceptional fuel savings thanks to a 10% reduction in fuel consumption compared to the A321ceo.

Wizz Air to keep summer destinations in autumn for low prices

Runway Wizz Air

We are bringing those with wanderlust the best news of the month! Wizz Air’s best flights to the seaside will remain available and will be even cheaper this autumn. That’s right: if you missed your favourite summer destination this year, you still have a chance to go.

Summer routes to stay in autumn

According to Okosutas, this is the first time the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air keeps its summer destinations in its timetable for the autumn. Thanks to this, you can fly to the Greek islands, the Bulgarian coast and Mallorca in autumn as well. Flights will operate mostly at a normal summer frequency of 2-3 flights per week.

These routes traditionally operate until mid-September. There have been occasions when one or two of them have remained open until October, but now almost all of them have been pushed deep into the off-season, Okosutas writes. Only the closure of Hania remains unchanged. However, the other Cretan airport, Heraklion, will remain until the winter timetable change, and so will Corfu, Zakynthos and Rhodes.

Santorini has been given an intermediate status: it will be shut down in the first half of October, but will end up with only one flight a week towards the end. Mallorca will remain until the end of October, as will Burgas.

Great prices

Outbound ticket prices start from EUR 15 in October, except for Heraklion and Mallorca, and on the return trip, except for Burgas, there are few tickets under EUR 20, with prices in the EUR 30-40 range. According to Okosutas, prices will will probably go down in the near future.

Destinations in the autumn: where to go?

For those who want to go to the sea, the southern Greek islands are a good choice. Corfu and Mallorca are not always suitable for swimming in October. It’s important to note that Burgas is generally not suitable for swimming from the second half of September.

But for hikers and those who enjoy the countryside and the cities, this is the best time to travel to all the destinations involved. Facilities are still open, but there are few tourists, prices are low, the weather is pleasant and suitable for all kinds of outdoor activities, and it is no longer hot.

This situation is worth taking advantage of as we don’t know if there will be October flights next year as well or if Wizz will revert to its usual closure. Ryanair has not changed, they will stop holiday routes at the beginning of October.

Flight cancellation: What is the difference between Wizz Air and Ryanair?

ryanair wizz air

Anyone who travels frequently by air will have experienced flight cancellations, perhaps even last-minute ones. Unfortunately, delays and cancellations are more prevalent in the case of low-cost airlines. Hungarian-owned Wizz Air and Irish-owned Ryanair struggle a lot in this regard. What is the difference between the two carriers when a flight is cancelled? What are your options when it comes to rebooking or refunding?

If your flight is cancelled shortly before departure, it makes a big difference how the airline reacts and what it offers you, the passenger. Okosutas has compiled what you need to know about the practices of Wizz Air and Ryanair when a flight is cancelled.

Recently, the two most popular low-cost carriers in the region have been forced to cancel lots of flights. Ryanair has some of its pilots on strike and Wizz Air has to check the engines of some of their aircraft, which is why planes are out of service for longer than planned (check out the list of the cancelled flights for September HERE).

Wizz Air cancellation

Hungarian brands Wizz Air
Source: @wizzair FB

What re-routing and re-booking options does Wizz Air or Ryanair offer in case of cancellation? With Wizz Air, you can rebook for one month in advance from the original departure date and two weeks back from the original departure date, but only on the same or similar route as the cancelled flight.

What counts as similar is up to them to say, and sometimes the system is quite ambiguous. For example, a cancelled flight to Rhodes could be transferred online to Crete, but the other way round, the system doesn’t offer Rhodes when the Crete flight was changed.

If there is a last minute cancellation, e.g. due to lack of staff or the weather, the same applies. Re-booking is only possible for the same or similar route. Vienna and Debrecen are considered comparable to Budapest in this case.

Ryanair cancellation

Ryanair flight Budapest
Photo: facebook.com/ryanair

In comparison, Ryanair’s system is friendlier when it comes to last-minute cancellations. In such a situation, the Okosutas journalist was offered the possibility to rebook for two days before and after the original flight only, but you can choose any of their flights, not only the same or similar destination as the cancelled one. This way, even if you arrive a long way away, you can save the journey by, for example, taking a longer train ride.

In many countries, this costs pennies if you make do with regional trains and travel together in larger numbers, Okosutas recommends. The best and cheapest systems are in Austria and Germany. What is more, if you’re not going home but are leaving, and you don’t have a fixed destination (and you can cancel your original destination accommodation for free), you can even choose to travel somewhere completely different: for example, to a more distant, more expensive destination.

Difficult autumn ahead for Wizz Air: many aircraft with engine problems, huge delays

Runway Wizz Air

The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air has broken a negative record this week. On Monday, one in two Wizz Air flights landed in Budapest with a delay of at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, only five out of 32 rival Ryanair flights landed with a delay in Budapest. Unfortunately, this will only get worse in the autumn.

After its negative record, the low-cost carrier is facing an even tougher autumn. As we reported, its September-October schedule will be disrupted due to engine overhauls. HERE is a list of (some of) the cancelled flights.

Negative record by Wizz Air: 50 hours of delay in 2 days

In two days, Wizz flights landing at Budapest Airport have accumulated 50 hours of delay, according to the official website of Budapest Airport. On Sunday, 13 out of 35 and on Monday, 16 out of 32 of the airline’s aircraft arriving at Liszt Ferenc International Airport were delayed by at least 30 minutes. A total of 26 hours of delays were recorded on Monday, Világgazdaság writes.

By comparison, 12 out of 33 flights of main rival Ryanair landed at least half an hour behind schedule on Sunday and five out of 32 on Monday. The Irish airline was “only” 31 hours late over two days. The two low-cost airlines account for almost half of all flights arriving at the airport.

Delays, cancellations due to engine checkup

In addition to the delays, the next two months will also be made more difficult for Wizz Air by cancellations. As we wrote, aircraft engines will have to be checked. The procedure could take up to 60 days, so it is likely that several aircraft will be out of the schedule. The low-cost airline has not yet been able to say exactly how many of its flights in the September-October period will be affected.

We didn’t even have to wait until the autumn cancellations for a dissatisfaction scandal to start about Wizz Air: Romania complained directly to the European Aviation Safety Agency about Wizz after it cancelled nine flights in one day for technical reasons. The Romanian consumer advocate general had already urged passengers to complain against the Hungarian airline in April, Világgazdaság adds.

Read more Wizz Air news below:

LIST: Here are the flights Wizz Air cancelled from Budapest

budapest airport destinations

As we reported yesterday, Wizz Air had to cancel several of its flights due to a compulsory engine checkup. Now, we have a list of flights from Budapest Airport that have been cancelled. Note: the list might be incomplete. Make sure to always check the relevant flight information on Wizz Air’s website and also your emails before flying – or deciding to stay at home.

As you may have read in our Tuesday article, the jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is to check GTF engines in an accelerated procedure, which concerns several Wizz Air planes. Due to the compulsory checkup, Wizz Air had to modify its timetable and cancel several flights in September and October.

Here are some flights from Budapest Airport that appear to be cancelled on Wizz Air’s official website. The list was compiled by Árpád Antolik. Cancelled flights appear on the Wizz Air website as “sold out”, thus it is impossible to buy a ticket for the given flight. The passenger will later receive an email that their flight has been cancelled or modified.

cancelled wizz air flights tgm
Cancelled flights appear as “sold out” on the Wizz Air website – like this Budapest-Târgu Mureș flight. Photo: PrtSc/wizzair.com

The following flights have been cancelled between 15-30 September. For London Luton (LTN), it is usually the mid-day flights that are cancelled. For the rest, it is a given:

  • 15. 09. BUD – TGM, LGW, LTN
  • 16. 09. BUD – CRL, RUH
  • 17. 09. BUD – NAP, DMM
  • 18. 09. BUD – TGM, LGW, LTN
  • 19. 09. BUD – GYD
  • 20. 09. BUD – MXP, LTN, BOJ
  • 21. 09. BUD – LTN, BSL
  • 22. 09. BUD – TGM, LGW
  • 23. 09. BUD – CRL, JED
  • 24. 09. BUD – NAP, DMM
  • 25. 09. BUD – TGM, LGW, LTN
  • 26. 09. BUD – IST, RUH
  • 27. 09. BUD – FCO (6.50 AM), CRL, AYT
  • 28. 09. BUD – TGM, AGP
  • 29. 09. BUD – TGM, LGW, BSL
  • 30. 09. BUD – MXP (6.20 AM), BRI

More Wizz Air news:

Here are some EUR 10-15 flights from Budapest you should grab

wizz air over budapest

Even though it’s August, there has never been a better time to snap up some affordable plane tickets for autumn. Prices for autumn flights have started to fall sharply on both ultra low-cost airlines: Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air and Ireland-based Ryanair. Offers from Budapest are available again for as little as EUR 10. You might even have some of your favourite destinations among these cheap routes!

Okosutas made us all a favour and gathered some extremely cheap flight tickets, both at Wizz Air and Ryanair. These flights all take off in the autumn, but it’s always best to plan ahead – especially in the case of flights. These penny fares are particularly in stark contrast to the very high summer prices, but who are we to complain?

Ryanair’s latest autumn-winter forecast saw the company’s share price plummet nearly 10 percent. What does this mean for us, passengers? Cheaper travel, thankfully. Obviously, this is not the case with every single autumn flight.

Wizz Air is increasingly selling tickets for under HUF 10,000 (EUR 25.66), and there are plenty of tickets in the HUF 7-8,000 (EUR 18-20) category. Even to the far-away Lisbon, you can find tickets for great prices. There are also tickets for HUF 3960 (EUR 10.15) to Milan, London and Rome, for example, for midweek dates in October and November. (Please note that these prices are the Wizz Discount Club prices!). There are no EUR 10 tickets to Paris, however, there are some for EUR 15-25, mainly for November, plus some for October.

Prices are likely to fall further in the coming weeks for the autumn season. Don’t worry, if you can’t book now for some reason, there will be special offers for new dates later. In addition, the first half of December could soon start to see more serious price reductions as well, Okosutas notes.

Check flight information and book your seats HERE for Wizz Air flights and HERE for Ryanair flights.

However, watch out if you have seats booked on Wizz Air flight for September and October: as we reported HERE, the airline is forced to cancel several of its flights due to a compulsory engine checkup. Unfortunately, this is not the only hardship the Hungarian low-cost carrier is facing: as we wrote HERE, Romanian state secretary turned to the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) after Wizz Air cancelled a record-high number of flights last weekend.

Watch out! Wizz Air cancels several flights

Wizz Air crew Hungarian airline

Wizz Air, Hungary’s low-cost airline, announced in a statement they sent to the Hungarian News Agency (MTI) that they would cancel several flights because of a compulsory engine checkup. However, they did not tell MTI or the press which flights would be concerned.

According to portfolio.hu, the jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is to check GTF engines in an accelerated procedure. However, the process concerns several Wizz Air planes. Due to the compulsory checkup, Wizz Air had to modify its timetable and cancel several flights in September and October.

Passengers already obtaining a ticket for the flights concerned will be able to choose from two options. They can either rebook their flight on alternative planes or use the refunding option and receive 120 percent of their ticket price on a Wizz account. Furthermore, they can get 100 percent of their ticket’s price in their bank account.

For passengers who bought their tickets through a travel agency, the airline recommends establishing contact with the website or the company concerned as soon as possible. Moreover, they recommend each of their passengers check their spam because it might happen information about schedule modifications would land there. Wizz Air added they had no influence on the process but apologised for the inconvenience.

The future is not this pink and bright:

“Many summer flights cancelled due to engine failure?” – we wrote in May. The problem is with the new generation engines made by the American Pratt & Whitney. They need mending so frequently that estimates talk about 3,000 flights that will be cancelled because of them during the summer season. The engine crisis affects multiple flights to and from Hungary and concerns Wizz Air aircraft. It seems we were right. Read our article HERE.

In THIS article, you may read about another crucial problem of the Hungarian low-cost airline. The Romanian government submitted a complaint to the EU’s aviation authority due to the many flights they cancelled last Friday in Romania. The follow-up can be an EU investigation.